Four schools in Jefferson County shut down this week as the county moved into a “red zone†for widespread coronavirus transmission.
School leaders said COVID-19 cases in teachers and subsequent quarantines forced their decisions to switch temporarily to distance learning.
Crystal City School District in southern Jefferson County shut down both its school buildings Tuesday through Nov. 17. About 400, or 80% of the district’s students have attended in-person classes four days a week since August. The district decided before the pandemic to move to a four-day schedule this year, primarily to recruit and retain teachers.
With 12 staff members currently quarantined because of a positive test or potential exposure, the district could not safely cover their duties, said Superintendent Matt Holdinghausen. There are also 47 students under quarantine.
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“I don’t think this is transmission from school, I think it’s all transmission from the outside,†Holdinghausen said. “Overall we’ve had a great year, it just happened to all come at the same time.â€
Simpson and Hamrick elementary schools in the Fox School District will shut down for 10 days after more than 5% of staff members tested positive for COVID-19.
The infected staff members at Simpson, in Arnold, make up 8% of the school’s employees. One student out of 257 who are attending in-person is also infected with the virus. Federal and local health guidelines recommend a temporary shutdown when positive cases reach 5% or more among adults or children at a school.
Hamrick hit the 5% threshold Wednesday, with three of 54 staff members testing positive. Two students also recently came down with the virus. The school in Imperial will shut down Thursday and move online through Nov. 16.
The schools reopened in August with a hybrid plan, where two groups of students each attend in person two days a week, with virtual learning on the other days.
Elementary students in the Fox district were scheduled to return to classes four days a week later this month, but that is on hold after Jefferson County moved into the “red zone†Monday for widespread community transmission.
Quarantine at All Saints
All Saints Academy at St. Ferdinand in Florissant has also moved to virtual learning for two weeks, mainly because of “the limited number of staff available to teach classes in-person, due to overlapping quarantine periods,†said Maria Lemakis of the Archdiocese of ºüÀêÊÓƵ.
There are “some isolated COVID-19 cases†in the school community, Lemakis said.
The school is the third in the Archdiocese to shut down during the pandemic. Schools at Our Lady of Providence in Crestwood and St. Michael the Archangel in Shrewsbury, part of Holy Cross Academy, closed for two weeks in September after a staff member who traveled between the two campuses had a presumed-positive case of COVID-19.
It is not uncommon for schools to shut down for a few days each winter when a certain percentage of students or staff are out sick with flu-like symptoms. At least eight schools across Missouri closed temporarily during the 2019-2020 flu season, according to state health data.
Parkway alters schedule
Students in the Parkway School District in west ºüÀêÊÓƵ County will stay on a hybrid schedule attending two days a week in-person, district officials said Wednesday. A previous plan called for students in kindergarten through eighth grade to return full time on Monday.
All but one of the district’s 23 elementary and middle schools has reported at least one case of COVID-19 since reopening to students last month, according to Superintendent Keith Marty.
“While the majority of cases have been traced back to transmission outside of school, the level of illness still presents a risk to our students and staff,†Marty wrote in a letter Wednesday to parents.
There are now more than 300 students and 80 staff members on a two-week quarantine for potential exposures to the virus in the district.
“We are very disappointed that our students are not returning full time right now. We know this places a burden on parents and our employees, particularly for our youngest students and working families,†Marty wrote.